Longtime Pacific Grove postman fondly recalled

PACIFIC GROVE &GT;&GT; When Vince Interrante became terminally ill, the hospice nurse who came to serve him immediately recognized him as her friendly mailman.

Of course, Interrante was familiar to a lot of people in Pacific Grove. He covered the same mail delivery route for 33 years. Interrante died June 5 at the age of 83.

"My grandfather ... was still working at age 81," said Alecia Hernandez of Marina.

The Monterey Herald did a story in 2009 on Interrante who at the time was the oldest postal worker and well past the normal retirement age. He pushed a two-wheeled mail cart with an attached leather pouch serving 450 customers five days a week, along a route from Lighthouse to Junipero, then to Forest and Lobos avenues.

"We were going through my grandfather's things to write an obituary for the newspaper and I realized from all the cards and letters how many friends he had made over the years," Hernandez said. "People nicknamed him 'The Energizer Bunny.'"

Interrante loved to visit. Dropping off the mail became a daily event for people who came to appreciate his warmth and sense of humor.

"He loved to chat," Hernandez said. "He'd come up with his mail bag and exchange pleasantries. He would kiss a lady on the cheek and ask about her family."

Hernandez said people liked Interrante to the point they would ask him into their homes to offer him food, or invite him to parties and family get-togethers.

"He became Mister Pacific Grove," Hernandez said.

Interrante is survived by his wife Glenice, 74, two daughters and a son, 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Before his postal service Interrante served for 27 years in the Navy and was a veteran of Korea and Vietnam.

"Both my grandparents met while they were in the Navy," Hernandez. "He was 28 at the time and she was 18. He was her boss in the Navy and he liked to tease my grandmother that it was scandalous, because he was her boss and they got married."

Hernandez said Interrante always made time for his children and grandchildren.

"He'd take us to Lovers Point or Dennis the Menace Park, wherever we wanted to go," Hernandez said. "He even sang at my wedding, though his was not the best voice. Their house was always full of kids."

Interrante also did volunteer work including at the post office "Adopt a Family" program, giving gifts to a family in need during Christmas and at Dorothy's Place in Salinas, feeding the homeless.

Asked how she would like her grandfather to be remembered, Hernandez said, "A person who touched the lives of many people."